don't bring religion into this forum. it is disrespectful to those of other faiths.

Just three years ago, with an average 150K/annum combined salary (spouse and I) and without borrowing from relatives, we managed to get a 2rm suburban condo for << 1M.

Recently we bought a second property (not residential) which is tenanted. Its achievable for an average graduate couple. Of course, there are sacrifices: no car, no expensive hobbies. And of course, there is risk involved, property can come down, it does not always go up. No risk, no gain, what shld be done is to take a calculated and considered risk.

The totally risk adverse, would have bought one HDB and stayed put, never buying private property, putting savings in the bank. But where would that lead to? Zero risk, but hardly any gain.

How much is your outstanding loan for the 2 properties?

Property investment is indeed risky, especially now when prices are at record high (Tharman said we're at the unhappy part of the property cycle). Many graduate couples were burnt in 1997-98 when their property investments turned bad.

Good luck!

36 year old professional, married with 2 kids

450K cash
450K reits
2.4M landed property (monthly loan of 2.5K is being repaid by reits dividends)

Outstanding loan for two properties in total, is slightly less than 1M.

Percentage of combined income, to service the loan for the two properties (condo home + non residential property), is around 30%. But if factor in that the non-residential is tenanted, its much less than that.

Is this high? I don't think so.

Be aware
 

I believe many Singaporeans have their heads in the sand. They are either not aware or not accepting of the growing income gap. The problem is severe enough for eminent Prof Lim Chong Yah to come out & propose (but not accepted) a drastic salary model to increase low wage workers' salary & keep high income earners' pay fixed. The gahmen is acutely aware of this income divide but is it doing enough to narrow the gap?

You only have to see how with high COE prices and yet people are buying cars, only this time they are buying mainly luxury ones. Also after so many rounds of cooling measures, property sales do not seem to abate. There are (many) rich people around. You are obviously on the wrong side of the income divide.

Question is how to get onto the right side of the divide?

For all Singaporeans who are unhappy with their pay, and the widening income gap, this is what the government has to say :

SM Goh acknowledged the situation has resulted in many unhappy Singaporeans, and he sought to put things in perspective.

"Those who missed out, those who can't buy this, who can't upgrade and so on, so we are really feeling the unhappiness, question is was the policy good?

"Unhappiness, those who are happier, in total there's net happiness, there's no such thing called total happiness, don't believe in it. It's whether we create net happiness in all this," said SM Goh.

He added it is "very difficult to satisfy everybody" and in politics, trying to make everybody happy is "impossible".

They key, said SM Goh is to "make the most number of people happy, the most number of times".

Age 39 w spouse
$500k cpf/srs
$700k cash/shares/ut
$600k equity value of property

Cash or Asset
 

Many people have assets which is not only a hedge against inflation but provides passive income and capital appreciation and with cost of borrowing so low those who buy assets such as property are paying close to no interests.








www.propertylaunch.org

Investments and net worth
 

Together with wife

9m landed prop (4m mtge outstanding)
6m condo (3m mtge outstanding)
2.5m apartment (300k mtge outstanding)


My own

800k stocks
900k cash and bonds